20260415 Viking Vela Northern Lights and British Isles - Day 31/32

Viking Vela In Search of the Northern Lights and British Isles Explorer Cruise Day 31/32 – Heading Home

We were able to sleep in a little this morning since our transfer to the airport wasn't leaving until 10:00 am. We had a nice breakfast, tossed the last items into our carry-on bags, and, with the remaining ten guests, loaded into three vehicles for the ride to Oslo Airport, Gardermoen. 

Getting close

Pulling in

A fun sculpture at the entrance to the terminal

The airport wasn't very busy, which was nice

For not being busy, there were a lot of flights

Arlona got a kick out of this yarn stand in the airport, for those who just have to knit

We made our way to the international gates for passport control

We were flying SAS to New York, JFK, connecting with Delta to Orlando. We spent time in the SAS lounge before departing with two very nice ladies from the cruise who were from the Albany, NY area. Our flight said it was boarding well in advance of the posted boarding time, so we high-tailed it to the gate only to find that they were just kidding. They started boarding right on the posted schedule.

We were in the first row of SAS's modest Business Class seating. No pods, absolutely zero place to put or store anything, and flat, uncomfy seat bottoms - still better than economy, but a far cry from other airlines

We pushed back from the gate right on schedule and departed almost immediately.  We hit a couple of small areas of turbulence, but beyond that, it was a smooth seven-hour flight. 

Near Greenland

Approaching New York City

After a smooth touchdown and taxi, we were first off the plane. We headed for Customs and zipped through Global Entry, still one of the best government programs ever. We were through Customs in less than five minutes. Our bags were quick off the plane too - that never happens! 

We walked over to the Delta bag drop. As we walked up, a man with a hand scanner walked up and said, "I'll bet you're happy to see me!" He scanned our bags and walked them over to the drop point, easy-peasy.

Next up was the short walk to the Skytrain. We only had to ride one stop, from Terminal 1 to Terminal 4. It was a short walk to the new Delta One Sky Club, and we were excited about seeing this new club. We were on a Business Class ticket, which is normally Delta One. When we got there, we were told that while SAS is a Delta partner, an SAS Business Class ticket wasn't good enough to get into the Delta One Club. That sucked because they also have their own TSA checkpoint, which would have made everything super-easy. Oh well.

We went through the regular TSA Pre-Check line. It was slow. They seemed to still be suffering from staffing issues, as the body scanner process was slow, there weren't any trays to put bags in, and so on. Still, it was lightyears faster than the ugly and long regular TSA line, so we were good.

We went to the Delta Sky Club in Terminal 4 and relaxed with a drink for our three hours of layover time before boarding. In fact, that's where we are as I write this.

They had a Nathan's Famous stand in the club

With that, I will wrap up today's blog. Tomorrow, I'll put together a trip wrap-up final entry. We will be flying tonight at 7:50, arriving in Orlando a little after 11:00. The car service is picking us up at 11:45, so we should be pulling up to Kolb Kastle around 1:30 am.

Tune in tomorrow for the wrap-up.